Texas Independence

Those were brave days in '36. Giants were living then;

And not since those heroic days has their like lived again.

It was not for themselves alone they held their courage high,

Not for themselves alone they flung their flag against the sky;

They had the gift of prophecy, and that gift made them strong ;

They could see past their bitter years, their bitter years and long,

And could see what the future held beyond their days of woe;

And they signed to risk more than life against the cruel foe.

Each knew that by that very act his life was forfeited;

That from then on those whom he loved might better far be

            dead

Than live to see the hopes they held be shattered by defeat;

They might have gone on living, and to live and love was sweet,

The Texas prairies were abloom, white clouds were in the sky,

And life and love were calling, but they dared to sign to die,

Because there was no other way than that they might be free;

So bravely each one wrote his name, and so wrote history.

As on that day the prairies bloom, as then the skies are blue,

But men today are free because of what they dared to do;

They knew if beaten they would die, if captured they would die,

That the smoke of  their burning homes would blacken Texas'

            sky;

Their loved wives, holding little ones, knew of the fate malign

Defeat would make their portion, but they sent their men to

            sign;

And they did sign; and history shall tell forevermore

That there were giants in those times-brave men in days of

            Yore.

Poems for Declamation Table of Content